Electronic storage of business information has become ubiquitous in today's business environment. As computer systems and networks that connect the computer systems have evolved to make communication of electronic information safer, more accepted, and generally more feasible for conducting day-to-day business or personal activities, businesses, customers, individuals have increasingly come to rely on storage of such communication or other electronic information. Because myriad types of information may today be stored electronically, including important or frequently-accessed information, being able to efficiently store, locate and process such information is extremely important. However, not all information that is stored electronically is of high importance. In a typical day, a business or an individual may send, receive, or process many different types of electronic information, some of which may be extremely important, complex, or expected to be frequently used in the future, and others of which may be simpler, not as important, or not expected to have the same functionality requirements. Sometimes, information of the two types may share a common characteristic, such as both being an email, for example.
Databases are frequently used to store large amounts of electronic information. Databases can be used to store data objects that contain information, and can store the data objects according to different storage methodologies. One storage methodology may be suited for better system performance, but may achieve the better performance by sacrificing in the area of functionality. Conversely, another storage methodology may be suited for expanded functionality, but may do so at the expense of system performance. One example of a database storage system stores all instances of a given data object according to the same storage methodology. The process for selecting the storage methodology is statically defined, such that an object is identified, a corresponding storage methodology is identified based on the object, and all instances of the object are stored in the database according to the corresponding storage methodology.